149. MOTHER JONES: Sit down and read

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1837-1930) was an activist and union organiser who led strikes and helped establish reforms for miners throughout America in the early 20th century. She was known for her toughness, leadership and wit.

As quoted by miner Fred Mooney, from the book Mother Jones – The Miners’ Angel by Dale Fetherling:

“She could permeate a group of strikers with more fight than could any living human being. She fired them with enthusiasm, she burned them with criticism then cried with them because of their abuses. The miners loved, worshipped, and adored her. And well they might, because there was no night too dark, no danger too great for her to face, if in her judgement “her boys” needed her. She called them her boys, she chastised them for their cowardice, she criticized them for their ignorance. She said to them, “Get you some books and go into the shade while you are striking. Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.”

Jones’ most famous quote is still used by union workers today: “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

– It took me over two years, but I finally gave my two nieces starring roles in a comic. Angie (8) and Talia (5) are already voracious readers (Angie is hooked on Tintin at the moment) and I’m sure they’ll kick AUTHORITY, IGNORANCE and PREJUDICE’s butts as they grow older.
– Hope you all have a fun and safe Easter holiday weekend!

I was trying to educate a few so-called “friends” about researching well and conducting a certain business more ethically, fairly, and legally. Unfortunately, I was branded as too argumentative and I ended up being alienated and bullied. It’s like being in high school all over again. I was so disappointed. It’s hard to stand for something you believe in in the face of greed and ignorance.

Ignorance and Prejudice are always wrong. But is Authority always wrong or bad? What about respecting the authority of a good teacher? Of our parents? Fighting ignorant and prejudiced authority is right but fighting all authority just for the sake of being a cool rebel is wrong.

I heartily agree with your comment.
Authority, by itself, is a tool, and lumping it together with actually negative things dilutes the message a lot…
Maybe if Authority were shown to be controlled by ignorance and prejudice, but as it is, I disagree with the content of this strip.

Sometimes accepting someone as the authority blinds you from other options.
Not trying to demean their hard work put in for the knowledge or hard work but I have personally seen many exceptional authorities refusing to go beyond the boundaries/comfort zones they know.
*Personal View* 🙂

I never respected a teacher for his/her authority. I respected them because of their superior knownledge and kindness. When somebody “wins an argument” because he/she is in a position of authority and not because of better arguments something is horribly wrong.

Yes, but it’s exactly that superior knowledge and kindness that gave them authority in your eyes. Authority doesn’t have to mean “formal position of power”. I believe Gav meant it that way in the comic, but that’s far from the only meaning of the word.

I understand what some are saying about the Authority monster, but I believe it is about arming yourself with knowledge so as to not be taken advantage of by corrupt authority. Like the old saying: “People should not fear government, government should fear the people”.

Anyway, I really like this one. The creatures have a real Kirby-esque feel to them!

I was reading by the time I was 5 and my children were reading by the time they were 5 as well. My daughter Jackie (always a voracious reader) was baby-sitting a few years ago and she came home from one sitting in tears. Turns out that as she was reading to the kids the 10 year old said, “Someday I want to learn how to read.” All four kids were home schooled and when my daughter asked the parents about reading the mom said, “They don’t need to read. They’ll get the basics someday, enough to get by.” Needless to say, with Jackie’s help, they were reading, and more than enough to just get by.

a) I don’t recall this being the tone and nature of your other comments

b) 4 kids isn’t exceptional (not with the urban-trends, but still not special)

c) I can’t even start to understand how you connect the number of children, the fact that they’re home schooled and illiteracy with the parents being ‘religious’.

d) the fear of vaccines causing autism is something I primarily see in some too easily excited eco-aware people, esoterics, and the kind of person who flips right to the horoscope of the tabloid paper they found an article of the vaccine-autism nature in.

e) If you wanna take a swing at people who do not vaccinate kids out of poorly educated religious choices it is perhaps that they consider prayer more medically effective. 😉

f)Just saying, the last girl to make me change my mind about something during a debate and send me away with my tail tucked between my legs was a home-schooled Christian with 11 (!) siblings. I met some of her sisters later as well, and they were bright as hell (the kind that speaks more languages than I do and have read twice the books, the elder being an author)

YOU educate me in every drawing you share. Thank you for many thoughtful insights and new perspectives. As a math teacher in a low-income middle school, I, too, would appreciate having this in poster form.

Thanks so much for this, Gav. To think that my mother actually took me to the doctor when I was a little girl with the complaint that “She’d rather read a book than play,” is beyond me. I remember the big smile on my face when the doctor replied “Thank your lucky stars, M’am, thank your lucky stars!” I’m still reading, still educating myself and preparing for the coming crisis. This one really touched my nearly 70-year old heart.

I just discovered your website through your interview with Brené Brown. Thank you for using your passion to bring more beauty and thoughtfulness into the world. I’m so glad you had the courage to follow your dreams!

Gavin, great article to share, more powerful quote to remember. Quotes linger in our minds, they are short and filled with a momentary lasting picture. Thank you for suggesting this section of your blog and sharing with the world your talent. You are priceless. MicheleElys

All political extremes tend to believe their opposites are uniquely guilty of the things they themselves do as well.

Though speaking strictly in terms of what is considered left and right wing in America at this moment, the right wing does peddle far more entirely made up information and thinly veiled propaganda. Someone educated on nothing but that serves their ends. (The left wing is more guilty of the sin of omission, rather than flat out making things up.)

I love this. I think it’s especially poignant for the United States at this time, where many battles are being fought with these very monsters. And I’m not too sure that Education is winning. And while I agree with the comments that object to the idea of “Authority” as a monster, I think most of governing and corporate institutions follow the other two enough that if Authority refers to them, it’s spot on.

Polls Show Concern with Health Care Reform; More Focus on Jobs and Economy: Several polls were released this week that highlight the public’s disenchantment with health care reform and anxiety around the struggling economy.

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We are seeing how every little thread of liberty, of fraternity, of respect and decency is being pummeled away because this gorilas are well eaten, well rested, and drinking milkshakes spiked with steroids.

And most people say “why, how can there be so many ignorance?”

Maybe it IS as the documentary “Outfoxed” said and 94% of the world’s view is controlled by a single news corp. Maybe it IS as Eddie Griffin said and television programming is “telling you visually to be programmed”. Maybe it IS as George Carlin said, that language can give or take away life from you if you don’t root yourself and know it. Maybe it IS true all that Keith Olbermman said once about The Right of Free Speech being legally equivalent to The Amount of Money you Have as the worst possible idea ever in a huge military lobby complex world.

Now-a-days, people want desperately order, no matter the cost, because most of them are ignorant about how things got to be messy in the first place. It’s easier to be barked orders. But I beg of any who reads this, read so you can learn to have a distance from what they tell you it’s true, so that you can *discern* what is going on with your own eyes. Read and listen to music and cherish on not being “nerd enough” or “jock enough” or “real enough” and discover what knowledge can become inside you and how it can empower you.

So we don’t have validate violence as the only alternative to diversity.